Australian Jeff Horn stunned the boxing world as he pulled off a monumental upset, beating eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines via unanimous decision to snatch the World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight belt Saturday in front of a crowd of 55,000 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia.
Horn, known as "The Hornet,” never let up from the get-go, fearlessly exchanging punches with Pacquiao to earn the nod of judges Waleska Roldan (117-111), Chris Flores (115-113) and Ramon Cerdan (115-113). With the win, Horn improved his record to 17-0-1 (win-loss-draw), with 11 knockouts.
Horn was the busier fighter in the early rounds but appeared to lose steam midway through the fight as Pacquiao hit him with hard blows to the head and body. Horn recovered just in time in the 10th round to bring the fight to the scorecards. After the win, Horn challenged unbeaten fighter Floyd Mayweather Jr. to a fight and announced that he’s going to be a father.
"He deserves it, no complaint," Pacquiao said after the fight. He suffered two cuts on his hairline due to accidental headbutts in the sixth and seventh rounds. With the loss, Pacquiao dropped to 59-7-2 (win-loss-draw), with 38 knockouts. However, Pacquiao is planning to use the contractual right to a rematch. "We have a rematch clause, so no problem,” added Pacquiao.
Pacquiao robbed of victory?
Boxing writer and expert Dan Rafael of ESPN said there’s no way that Horn won the fight, saying “do not agree. Horn did not win. No way”. Based on ESPN.com’s scorecard, Pacquiao won the fight, 117-111. ESPN ringside analyst Teddy Atlas also had it for Pacquiao, 116-111.
Jason McIntyre of Fox Sports 1 cannot contain himself in expressing dismay over the result of the fight, tweeting “Manny Pacquiao losing is why boxing is such a joke.
How can people take this sport seriously anymore? Jeff Horn did not win that, sorry”. Gary Parrish of CBS Sports echoed McIntyre’s sentiments, tweeting “that's the kind of thing that hurts boxing's reputation.
However, Pacquiao was gracious in defeat, stressing "that's the decision of the judges. I respect that”. This was not the first time Pacquiao lost in a controversial fashion.
In 2012, he lost his welterweight title to Timothy Bradley Jr. via split decision, a result questioned by many, especially with Pacquiao dominating the fight.
Pacquiao landed more punches than Horn
According to CompuBox, Pacquiao landed 32 percent of his punches compared to just 15 percent for Horn. When it comes to power punches, Horn landed 73 while 123 of Pacquiao’s strong blows landed. Pacquiao landed a total of 182 punches while Horn had just 92 punches finding their mark.
